Without a magbetosphere it's pretty useless. It would just lose its atmosphere again within a few hundred years.
Agreed. It's the very definition of a dead planet, and there is even a high probability that it had life before Earth.
Closer in terms of what? Distance? delta-v to get there? Time to get there?
In travel time, no. In energy cost, yes, but only if you're willing to wait a long time to get there. Also impossible to communicate with directly by radio.
> Ok, a warmer Mars is desirable.
To humans.
yeah, well that is the typical comparison one would make as a human..